Mountain Mayhem was back, this year sponsored by Saab & Salomon but still the same great event that was known as "The Red Bull".  This year our team was the one to beat, we had 24 hour regulars Paul Oldham, Jamie Norfolk and I along with former World Cup winner Rune Hoydahl.

I seemed to get the short straw again and did the initial running section, I came to the change-over area in about 30th place, but as soon as I was on my bike I was passing riders. By the top of the first bumpy climb I was up to second, this was in the space of 300m!  A group of 5 formed at the front, it was the usual National Points riders including Jody Crawforth (Evans) and Stuart Bowers.

No-one was thinking of the next 24 hours as the open lap was flat out racing. I made the change to Rune and he opened a gap across the bumpy fields as his full suspension Giant XTC did its stuff. The team were changing every lap, this we continued up until about midnight. We were slowly slipping away from the rest of the field.  Rune and I did the first night shift, doing back to back changes. As I set off  to the change over for the third change I had a flat front tyre. Good timing - this was soon changed and I made the change over.

My last night lap was completed and I came into the change-over area to find Rune no where to be seen. I changed over my batteries and set off on another lap - cursing! This ended up as my fasted night lap..

Paul and Jamie took over and Rune and I had a bit of a rest. By the time I woke up we had gained a lap - then we started to work out how slow we could go.  The only problem was Rune did not seem to go much slower. This meant I had to go out for a 10th lap at 1:45pm.  The team joined me to cross the finish line together.

Another great event - thanks Patrick

last years report - 24hr Red Bull 2002

 To the top of page
 

        Press to return to home page